Dicerorhinus sumatrensis

Conservation efforts on the Sumatran Rhino must not be taken for granted anymore as the mammal's population has decreased alarmingly to the point of near extinction in Sabah.

Despite efforts taken by the State Government for a number of years, the rhino's (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) numbers continue to decline, with poaching being the major threat.

Apart from poaching, logging activities causing disturbance, loss and fragmentation of the rhino's habitat also contributed to its declining population.

It is quite impossible to ascertain the actual number of rhinos in Sabah.

Indicators such as Davies and Payne (1982) stated that there were between 15 and 30 rhinos, 38-plus for Tabin and Danum Valley (Khan in 1989) and known (30) with possible (70) in whole of Sabah (Foose and van Strien 1997).

Based on this, he said it was clear that the Sumatran rhino population in Sabah warrants a highly-endangered rating and that serious concern for the survival of the sub-species is fully justified.

Low numbers, a possibly skewed sex ratio in favour of males and little evidence of current breeding constitute the main basis for this concern.

Two areas in south eastern Sabah are judged to have viable populations with prospects of long-term survival, viz Tabin Wildlife Reserve (1,200 sq km) and the forest reserve in Ulu Segama in Kuamut area (totaling approximately 4,000 sq km).

The area in Kuamut includes the Danum Valley and Maliau Basin Conservation area, within the Sabah Foundation's 100-year logging concession area, he said.

A limited survey of rhino distribution was carried out in late 1989 and early 1990 by WWF Malaysia and concentrated mainly on previously unsurveyed rhino ranges in the Ulu Segama and Kuamut area.

There is also possibility of viable populations in the Dermakot/Tangkulap/Segaliud Lokan Forest Reserve when it is fully surveyed.

He said the Sumatran rhino was relatively common in North Borneo at the turn of the century, during which the harvesting of rhino horn by native hunters was encouraged by the government, then.

By 1960s the rhinos had largely disappeared from western and northern Sabah and became confined to the forests in the southeastern areas. By the late 1970s it was feared that the rhino was nearing extinction in Sabah, but according to Davies and Payne (1990), a statewide faunal survey from 1979 to 1982 revealed some small breeding populations still exist.

Such pocketed animals are also frequently vulnerable to hunting by virtue of the reduced size of their habitat now surrounded by areas under agriculture and other human activities.

In this respect, the Government's policy and legislation regarding wildlife and conservation, and protection of management of wild fauna and flora, respectively, constitute important components for planning conservation of the rhinos.

Steps must be taken to determine the precise distribution and status of the rhinos that live outside of the protected areas, especially those living in isolation and out of the reproductive contact with other rhinos.

The next step should be to systematically capture and translocate doomed individuals, integrating them into the viable populations in wildlife sanctuaries.

It is heartening to note that the Wildlife Department has been receiving external assistance in its bid to save the rhinos from extinction, such as the Asian Rhino Specialist Group, the SOS Rhino, and WWF Malaysia Sabah branch

The continued survival of the endangered Sumatran rhino is one of the main reasons the State Government shot down the proposed coal-fired power plant in Silam, Lahad Datu.

It was not an easy decision considering that Sabah is currently facing a power shortage problem.

But finally, we thought, we can have a power plant built anywhere but we cannot have a rhino anywhere, the State Government will continue to preserve all wildlife in Sabah.

In the recently-launched Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) 2008-2025, the rhino rescue programme was high on the State agenda.

A State-level rhino conservation task force to develop an action plan and embark on a rhino breeding programme based on the sanctuary concept similar to Indonesia's.

SOS Rhino USA and its President Dr Nan Schaffer contributions to rhinoceros conservation in Sabah over the past eight years at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, here have been invaluable.

There is no doubt that the Sumatran rhino is the most endangered species in Sabah and their numbers have dwindled to a mere 25-30.

Population surveys by the Wildlife Department and other stakeholders indicated that breeding populations exist only in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Danum Valley and, more recently, in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

With such a small and fragmented population coupled with a low reproductive rate, the viability of the species is of grave concern.

Conservation efforts of the Wildlife Department have, therefore, focused on in-situ conservation involving protection and management of breeding rhino populations within sustainable natural habitats, and ex-situ conservation, attempting to bring isolated rhinos in unsustainable habitats into captive breeding programmes to build up a captive population with the long-term objective of eventual release to the wild.

Non-governmental organisations have lately begun to play an active role in the conservation of rhinos in Sabah.

Public awareness, fund raising and participating in conservation programmes are some of the contributions that NGOs can undertake. I welcome and encourage contributions from NGOs and regard them as partners with similar objectives such as conserving biodiversity and maintaining sustainable the livelihoods of local communities.

Therefore, as partners, NGOs have to keep the faith and ensure that their participation would not be to the detriment of the other party.

It is all too easy to pick on issues and sensationalise them to gain mileage for whatever cause but such a course is counter-productive and self-destructive.

SOS Rhino has fared well by avoiding conservation politics and focussing their energy on the plight of the Sumatran rhino.

With SOS Rhino collaboration for the last 10 years or so, there is more knowledge now on Sumatran rhino conservation in Sabah in terms of the rhino situation and the important prerequisites in captive breeding of the Sumatran rhino.

The successful production of one rhino offspring in Cincinnati Zoo in 2001 was the result of the rhino captive breeding experiences gained in Sabah, the State Government is grateful to Dr Schaffer and SOS Rhino USA for the invaluable contributions on Sumatran rhino conservation in Sabah.